The present invention disclosed herein relates to an image processing apparatus and method, and a driving assistance system employing the same.
Technologies for detecting an object by processing an image captured by a camera are being used in various fields. As an example, a driving assistance system for recognizing obstacles in periphery of a vehicle at the time of driving the vehicle and providing information thereon to a driver may use object detection technology as a method of recognizing the obstacles.
The driving assistance system requires rapid image processing because it is required to instantly provide information on peripheral obstacles to the driver on the drive.
Typically, an image obtained by capturing periphery of a moving vehicle, for example, the forward view of the moving vehicle is of a predetermined size and has multiple obstacles including vehicles and pedestrians dispersed therein. In this case, a process for processing the image and detecting objects corresponding to the obstacles from the image takes a considerable amount of time.
Furthermore, when objects corresponding to obstacles are detected from a forward view image of the moving vehicle, other vehicles ahead of the moving vehicle may be grasped by detecting rear ends thereof. However, a vehicle abruptly appearing in the forward view image by passing by the moving vehicle or a vehicle of which a part appears in the forward view image is difficult to rapidly detect or is unable to detect.